Outspoken former Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes the stewards only penalised Kimi Raikkonen 10 seconds during the British GP because it was Lewis Hamilton he hit.
The now infamous moment took place at Village on the opening lap as the Finn locked his front-left brake and tagged the right-rear of the Mercedes, spinning him into the run-off area and dropping the Silverstone favourite to the back of the field.
The stewards would then give the Ferrari driver the harshest penalty that can be given and served during a pit-stop of 10 seconds which to some seemed excessive compared to similar incidents, notably Sebastian Vettel taking out Valtteri Bottas at the start in France.
“I don’t understand why it’s 10 seconds, and another time it’s five, sometimes it’s nothing,” Villeneuve told Autosport.
“That’s what’s wrong. It’s racing. I don’t like it when there are racing penalties, it should be for dirty driving, which is a different thing, or stupid driving.
“They decided that it’s Lewis, we’re in the UK, he’s fighting for the championship, that’s worth 10 seconds.
“If it had been Bottas, it would have been five seconds, that’s the thing,” he added, the penalty Vettel was later given for colliding with the second Mercedes driver at Paul Ricard.
Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly were left scratching their heads at inconsistent penalty decisions, which in some cases saw no punishment despite a clear transgression, but the former Williams driver turned pundit offered another example where the driver involved and the location could have been considered.
“You see things like [Max] Verstappen in Austria when he touched Kimi [to pass him on the opening lap],” said the Canadian.
“Why wasn’t that a penalty? Just because Kimi didn’t go off? If Kimi had gone off, then it would have been a penalty?
“That’s what’s wrong, it’s the action that matters, not what happens after the action, ultimately.”
The Silverstone incident gained more attention after Hamilton’s reaction, suggesting Ferrari were using “interesting tactics” before later rescinding.
However, Villeneuve believes the Briton should be grateful it happened.
“Without them crashing into each other he would have been running third the whole race, not having people moving out of the way to let him by, he would have destroyed his tyres,” he claimed.
“That ended up working out because he was the later one to pit, so he was the one who at the end had tyres that were still OK compared to Bottas.
“He finished second after a crappy start, so he should be happy with that because he wasn’t going to win this race. Nothing to complain about.”
